I was satisfied with employment at AB. I was give the opportunity to grow and advance. The regional management I dealt with was excellent. The corporate staff was sometimes difficult but there was a lot of turnover due to acquisitions. The company grew from 18,000 employees to 50,000 in the seven years I was there.

Cons

Due to the growth there was constant change. AS the company grew outside people were brought into the corporate structure. They didn't always understand the business. The legal department was known as the sales prevention department.

The district office for the Kansas City region is staffed with good people who comprehend mid-western work ethics. They strive to maintain a fair and equitable working environment at all of the sites. The roving account managers are primarily salesmen first, focused on gaining new clients and maintaining current clients. Officers are often times viewed as secondary concerns and as such can be left with the impression of being neglected. I think this is an inadvertent consequence of time and resource limitations imposed at the national rather than the regional level. I have always been treated with personal respect and dignity when I have worked with the current office staff. The previous regional manager was an unethical, tyrannical, and incompetent bully. The current regional manager can be intimidating in his demeanor and is definitely a "type A" personality. But I have found him to be reasonable, affable, and willing to at least listen to legitimate concerns. His leadership has improved the perception of professionalism and integrity of the regional office. The company pays an hourly wage that is above average for this region and they provide site specific training. Their focus is on customer service and maintaining the highest professional standards in the industry. This regional office has a comprehensive recognition program which regularly rewards exceptional performance.

Cons

Unfortunately, there are some drawbacks. Some are the fault of corporate policy on a national level. Others are the fault of site specific management. On a corporate level the benefits offered are expensive and inadequate. Most officers cannot afford the health care premiums, deductibles, and coverage that the company offers through its provider. I certainly cannot and if it were not for Veterans medical benefits, I do not know what I would do. There is no sick time or pay offered whatsoever at most sites, and if an employee does come down ill the attendance policy is draconian in its disciplinary measures. "Chargeable Absences and Tardiness Include: 1) Call offs for anything other than a death in the family. Illnesses will be considered a chargeable absence; however, multiple days off for an illness, with documentation, generally count as one chargeable absence. (Please note: employees with paid sick time available to them will not be “charged” for the medical absence as long as all other call-off rules are followed.) In other words, unless someone in your family dies, you are going to get a write up placed in your personnel file if you call off work FOR ANY REASON. There is a 90 day period (3 months) established so that if there is no repeat "offence" then the disciplinary paperwork is removed from your file. If however, you have a repeat absence in that 90 day period, the disciplinary action is elevated to the next level. 3 or more chargeable absences can result in termination. So if you want to maintain a stellar personnel record, be prepared to come to work sick. The other main issue I have found is the lack of qualified, competent site managers and supervisors. Some of these people have fake or phony college degrees purchased off the internet or obtained from unaccredited schools. As part of security operations, Allied-Barton performs background verification for clients, it seems that they do not do a very thou rough job of conducting educational background investigations on their own management or supervisory site staff. There is a bit of an "old boy" network in place at all levels of this company. If you do not know somebody, or at least schmooze with the right people, you probably aren't going to advance very far.

Advice to Management

Seriously consider implimenting a sick leave benefit in all contracts as a minimum company standard for all clients. Inform clients that you want to attract and maintain the best people in the industry and that this policy is an investment to that goal. As a corporate leader you should lead as an example at to how to treat employees as valuable human assets, rather than robotic instruments of depreciation and liablility. Improve benefits and merit pay increases, (the officers at my site have not seen a pay increase in two years). Promote from within and for the sake of all that is good and ethical, research all managers and supervisors educational backgrounds and dismiss those incompetant boobs who have padded their resumes!